


Tell Me

by BetterOptions



Series: In the End [3]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Caring Rick Grimes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, M/M, POV Daryl Dixon, Prequel, Relationship Discussions, Romance, Sub Daryl Dixon, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:35:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28143210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterOptions/pseuds/BetterOptions
Summary: Rick wants to make sure his feelings aren't underestimated, so he asks Daryl one seemingly simple question.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes
Series: In the End [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046653
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	Tell Me

**Author's Note:**

> Set before Show Me.

The prison grounds have an eerie silence to them. It makes Daryl feel like they’re just in the eye of the storm, trying their damnedest to escape the inevitable. Whenever things are too calm, too silent, too peaceful, he knows to prepare for the worst; be it want for shelter and food, uncertainty, death, Daryl has always been more than prepared for it. When he was too little to comprehend what the world was and how to navigate it, he remembers those first flames of fear for what could become of him before they reduced to embers of acceptance. He hasn’t felt truly terrified for a long time now, even with the world having gone to shit. He thought he might have felt it again when he lost Merle the first time. He was concerned, angry, upset, and who the fuck knows what else. Deep down he knew he would lose his brother early on, just not the way it happened. He was undoubtedly heartbroken and shocked when it finally came to pass, but he still can’t call what he felt fear. Even having lost Merle the second time for good. 

There’s a shit-ton of reasons, Daryl thinks, part of him doesn’t want to try and think about. Or at least he didn’t for the longest, and he realized a while ago what sits at the top of the list.  


It’s a rare occasion it feels like, to have the watch tower all to themselves, and even rarer to not have to worry about the walkers tearing at the fences. The arm around Daryl’s shoulder pulls him in closer as a breeze bites at their exposed skin and his thoughts shift to the other most important thing in his thoughts.

“Somethin’ on your mind?” Rick rumbles.

“Usual. Everythin’ and nothin’." He mumbles back. If anyone else gets it, what he’s thinking and saying, it’s Rick.

“Mind sharin’? Been doin’ a bit of thinkin’ myself.”

“’bout what?”

“Asked you first.”

Daryl looks down at the field, holds his gaze there.

“Been thinkin’ ‘bout what would happen when we have to leave the prison.”

“If we leave the prison. We don’t know what will or won’t happen.”

“It’s possible, man.” Daryl insists.

“A lot of things are, for better or worse.”

Daryl squirms. This isn’t how he thought this night would unfold, but then no one ever knew for sure what would happen. Rick had a point.

“What were you thinkin’?” He interjects. Rick’s thoughts have always fascinated him, even when he already knew what they were. He likes hearing Rick speak his mind, likes when he confides in Daryl what he won’t share with anyone else.  


“I was thinkin’ about you.” Rick says like that’s something people just say to Daryl, or ever had said. His chest literally feels like it’s caught fire.

“Wha’ about me?” If it were something Rick wanted or needed, the man would have just said it. He knows Daryl doesn’t need a lecture or a reason. Daryl would do anything for him.

“What do you think would happen if we lost this place?”

“Wha’ d’you mean? You just said-

“I know what I said,” Rick cuts in gently. “I want to know what you think I would do. If we lost the prison."

Daryl starts to glance away again, but Rick mutters his name. Rick fixes him with a steely gaze when he meets the man’s eyes.

“Hey. I need to see your face when you answer.” A gentle command Daryl refuses to resist.

“Wha’ you’re doin’ now. Wha’ you always do. Look out for yours.”

Rick’s normally hard eyes bore into him, with an expression Daryl’s still too much in denial to acknowledge as the truth. 

“You know who all’s mine.”

Daryl nods. “Carl ‘n’ Judith.”

Rick stills like he’s preparing for something big. It makes Daryl nervous in a way he didn’t know he could be. It’s too quiet.

“An’ you.” Rick confirms quietly, voice even.

Daryl says nothing, he’s not sure how to respond, yet his body does the work for him, so he doesn’t need to think too hard. He shuffles so he’s pressed firmly into the man’s side, until Rick’s shape meshes with his.

Daryl feels Rick tighten his hold on him, until his arm is almost wrapped around his neck. Fear is the farthest thing from his mind. He shifts again for a different reason, squeezing into every nook and cranny he can.

“I’d never leave you behind, not on purpose.”

He buries his head in the crook of the older man’s neck, guilty. Daryl left on purpose. He knows why he did it, and in hindsight, he has a hard time trying to justify it. He left Rick at his most vulnerable and hurt, and he’s not sure it was worth it, for what was inevitable.

“Everythin’ that happened out there, in here, these last few months haven’t been your fault. None of it.”

“Ain’t yours either.”

Rick looks away for a split second, then tilts his head back, licking his bottom lip, transfixing Daryl. A ruler pondering the words of his subject. When he glimpses at him, he sees the image of a man no words can describe. Valiant, Strong, gentle are all the words he thought a powerful man couldn’t be, let alone at once. Daryl will be the knight gladly fighting to defend this man’s throne and everything with it.

“Yeah well, I’m glad you have faith in me. Can’t promise I’ll be deserving of it in the long run.” Rick says stroking his jawline, a place Daryl wants to provide attention to, one way or another.

“Don’ need to promise nothin’. You’ve always done right by us. By me.”

Rick fixes him with that unwavering stare from the corners of his eyes, the one he knows has Daryl at his beck and call. “I care about everyone here. But Carl…Judith…you. You three are the priority.” He nods silently, regal curls and the slightly coarse hair on Rick’s neck tease Daryl’s face and cheeks. Reminds Daryl of the mirrored images of the man, rough and soft at once. He wonders who else has witnessed him like this. Who all ever got to see all the angles of this man? Who all bothered to notice?

Rick’s hand comes up to stroke the back of his head down to the nape of his neck, callous fingers proof that the man won’t be able to sit high and mighty and watch others do his work. It’s when, not if, Rick will come back, Daryl thinks. It’s only a matter of time until he commands the council, Daryl, like he would a fleet. The hand trailing down his spine in tandem with his voice makes him feel like he’s in a noble painting, steeped in an all-enduring calm instead of a break from another tragedy of historical proportions. Daryl craves it, and the other man has a way of letting him know that it’s okay to want the things he does, whether he thinks he’ll always have them or not. He has everything he needs as long as he has Rick. The first thing he’s afraid of losing. 

“I always planned to look after you, since they told me your name, since I met you. After what happened to him, I felt responsible for you. Obviously, I’m a little more protective of you now for different reasons.”

“Wha’ brough’ all this on?” Daryl grunts back and glances up intrigued. They both know who “him” is.

Rick grins, soft and bright. “You asked what I was thinkin’.”

“Wha’ever, man.” He doesn’t regret asking a damn thing, they both know it.

“What I’m gettin’ at is that I’d do anything to take care of you.” Rick replies, voice low and inviting.

“You know I don’ need to be taken care of.”

“I know you don’t, but I’m telling you I’m going to do it anyway. I want to. Nothin’s going to change that.”  
Daryl’s thighs clench and his heart rate speeds up. He doesn’t think his reaction to this man could get any more intense, any more luxurious, and then it happens; Rick leans in closer, closer than he thinks they have been up to this point, lips brushing the shell of his ear, “I was thinkin’ about how much you’d let me.” Daryl feels little bumps form all over his arms.

“Don’ even have to ask.” He whispers back in that same volume as Rick, sure the man doesn’t need to strain his ears, hanging on to Daryl’s every word like he’s the faithful animal on a leash instead of the other way around.

“I want you to tell me, anyway.”

Daryl raises his head to look Rick in those imperial blue eyes before he answers, always honoring his requests. He brushes his lips against the former deputy’s.

“Let you do anything you want.” He mutters, leaning in to seal his accord.


End file.
